“I want my party to look good. We spent a lot of money. The International Monetary Fund says it's good. We will have the strongest economy. I'm filling time by repeating nice words.”
What they said. What they meant.
Plain-language translations from the House of Commons.
Recent debates
8 latest topics
Spring Economic Update 2026 Implementation Act
57 statements
Spring Economic Update 2026 Implementation Act
19 statements
Arab Heritage Month Act
5 statements
The Economy
15 statements
Government Priorities
2 statements
Government Priorities
2 statements
Housing
12 statements
The Environment
2 statements
Government Orders
Business of Supply
A wide-ranging bill to implement the Spring 2026 Economic Update, touching on everything from tax deductions for tradespeople to aviation fuel taxes to beer excise duty rates. In 5 hours of debate, MPs mostly grilled the Finance Minister on unrelated topics like ride-sharing regulation, StatsCan data collection, and election promises from 2015. Some substantive questions were asked about domestic investment levels and the bill's housing provisions, but mostly talk went in circles without many direct answers.
“I don't want to answer the health transfer question. Let me change the subject to debt percentages decades ago instead.”
“I want to look good by saying interest costs are not historically high. That percent-to-GDP fact makes me sound smart. Chatting about the 90s distracts from answering whether health transfers will get crowded out.”
“I want to spin numbers to make the debt sound smaller. I don't want to directly respond to the interest costs you brought up. Look over here at this historical percentage instead.”
“I'm filling time with pleasant words. Look at these nice things people said about Canada! Maybe that will make everyone forget you asked about the rising debt-to-GDP ratio.”
“I want to correct my colleague. We have two promises: a debt-to-GDP ratio and a balanced operating budget by 2028-29.”
“Look, I found a quote that agrees with me. So what if our old promises floated away? Someone else says we're more restrained now.”
“I want you to be happy that I finally showed up. I just needed time because I promised to fix things for those voters first.”
“I'm going to ignore your point and just repeat campaign talking points about our great economy.”
“My deficit is slightly less huge than first projected - that makes me serious and responsible! Never mind the promises we broke or the giant debt, look how disciplined I am!”
“I don't care about the deficit. I want to announce popular spending!”
“I want to take credit for reducing the deficit by $11 billion. I'm trying to make people feel confident in the government by saying we are being responsible with money.”
“I'm going to talk a lot about challenges and crises, but I won't actually answer the question about the Finance Minister's failed promise on food prices.”
“I want the government to spend money on a new program. I think it will make families happy. I want my colleague to vote for the bill that spends the money.”
“We suspended one fuel tax. That makes everything good now.”
“I want to look good by reminding everyone we are cutting a gas tax. Please vote yes on my bill.”
“We spent a lot on housing. He should be happy I said 'generational' and 'affordable'. I hope he doesn't notice I didn't give a number.”
“I want to talk up our program and make big promises. I'm filling time with kind words and saying nothing anyone could pin down later.”
“I'm avoiding the question about our broken promise. Instead, I'm bringing up a big spending number to make it sound like we are doing a lot.”
“I won't give you a date. I'll just say 'generational investments' and name a big number, so maybe you'll forget I didn't answer.”